Advances Fusion, October, 2015
1
Vol. 5, #8, October 2015, No. 52
“Style Meets Substance”
Midea’s products & promotions keep winning friends and influencing people
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
2
ADVANCES
Contents
Midea Advances Newsletter is published monthly
by Midea International Business. We welcome all
comments, suggestions and contributions of
articles, as well as requests for subscription to our
newsletter. You can reach us by email at:
Address:
ADVANCES, International Strategy Department
Midea HQ
No. 6 Midea Road
Beijiao, Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong
P.R.C. 528311
Web: www.midea.com/global
Quote of the Month:
“Success is
simply a matter
of luck. Ask any
failure.” - Earl
Nightingale.
NEWSLINE
Profit up 23% Year-on-Year PAGE 3
A Star Is Born? PAGE 3
Style Meets Substance at
Canton Fair Stand PAGE 4-5
www.midea.com
Thailand: Surin Elephant
Round-up PAGE 22
Britain: Guy Fawkes Night PAGE 21
First Attendance at Belarus
Sports Competition PAGE 8-9
At the Forefront of the Beuty
Business PAGE 6
Major Brazil Design Award PAGE 7
On a Spin Through Vietnam PAGE 14
LittleSwan’s 3rd Quarter Profit
up 26% PAGE 14
Midea Movember PAGE 17
CAC Sends Team to Fun Run PAGE16
CAC’s Compressor
Consultant PAGE 18-19
Midea in China’s Top 10
Privately Held Brands PAGE 10
-11
Southeast Vietnam Dealer
Meeting PAGE 13
Nature Paintings Come to
Factory Canteen PAGE 12
China: Single’s Day PAGE 20
FUSION
PEOPLE
Equipment Installed at West
Africa International Airport PAGE 15
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
3
Profit up 23% Year-on-Year
By MIP
M idea Group’s third quarter profit was at
US$424.83 million, a year-on-year increase of 14.7 per-
cent. This pleasing result comes despite a shaky Chinese
housing market curbing demand for household appli-
ances.
Revenue in the first three quarters of 2015 has
reached US$17.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.2
percent. Net
profit at-
tributable to
the parent
company was
at US$1.73 billion, a
year-on-year increase
of 23 percent. Earn-
ings per share were at
US $0.41, a year-on-
year increase of 22.64
percent.
According to Bloomberg, Midea is valued at 8.3 times
projected earnings over the next 12 months, versus an average
multiple of 54 for Chinese-listed producers of discretionary
consumer products. It has unanimous buy ratings from 20 ana-
lysts tracked by Bloomberg, who predict a 47 percent surge in
the stock over the next 12 months.
NEWSLINE
By Midea College
A Star Is Born?
M idea Group’s President of Human Resources Jef-
frey Liu appeared on television show ―Dialogue on November 1
to talk about subjects ranging from auto-
mated manufacturing to talent retention.
Other distinguished guests included Chi-
na’s Vice Minister of China’s Department
of Social Security Tang Tao who discussed
challenges facing the nation’s manufactur-
ing industry.
Liu started by talking about the
group’s work ethic and how to get the best
out of the talent Midea already has. Chi-
na’s labour market and manufacturing sectors are going through
changes that Liu helped viewers to understand.
He also talked about new technology such as smart homes
and automated factories and how to attract the top talent in
these new industries. Another topic was
the competitive nature of companies’
keeping hold of their most valued people
while encouraging them to be their best
selves.
Presented by UK-educated Yang Rui,
Dialogue is a prime time daily talk show
on state-owned CCTV News. It reaches
viewers across China and over 80 million
subscribers around the world. Its format
is similar to Larry King Live, which also
focused on current affairs.
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
4
Style Meets Substance at Canton Fair Stand
By Shine Lee
NEWSLINE
Dot Award.
Also in the washing machine section was the Crown
series. The series boasts an ultra-thin, stainless steel drum and
comes in a variety of shapes and sizes to cater to the needs of
different markets and individuals.
The All Easy series of residential air conditioners prom-
ises to cut installation and maintenance time by 40-50 percent.
This could prove particularly popular in countries with high
labor costs.
A smart assault on the Senses
If the sight of Midea’s stand was not lavish enough to
attract passers-by, then the smell certainly was. Many of
Midea’s cooking appliances were put to action by gourmet
chefs who knew their way around a kitchen.
T he 118th edition of the Canton Fair, China’s oldest
and largest trade fair, began in the southern megacity of
Guangzhou on October 15. As always, Midea pulled out all the
stops in showcasing the best of its products currently available
at home and abroad.
As with last time, the centrepiece was the model M-
Smart home in which the range of interoperable products
could be seen in action. Elsewhere, every product category had
its own display area, where cutting-edge products like the M2,
a silent water dispenser, were on show.
Eye-catching products
The M2, Midea’s almost entirely noiseless water dis-
penser, has proved a sensation in China, smashing records
with its sales volume on online platform T-Mall. This was
most likely the first time overseas buyers got the chance to see
the water purifier. Its no-touch usability and sterilization func-
tion proved particularly noteworthy.
On the water dispenser is a QR code which can provide
users with an instruction manual, after-sales service, pointers
as to when the filter needs changing and other functions.
―Now my wife will no longer have to worry about me losing
the instruction manual,‖ commented one buyer.
Another hit was the Coral series of washing machines.
The machines’ features include a direct drive mechanism, a
DC inverter and a water cube. The Coral series has received
the ―Oscar‖ of the industrial design world in the German Red
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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Style Meets Substance at Canton Fair Stand
(Cont.) By Shine Lee
LANGUAGE
Style meets substance
M-Smart is becoming progressively more prominent at
each Canton Fair. At this fair, products that were part of the
Internet of Things program including air conditioners, refrig-
erators, wash-
ing machines,
water heaters,
microwaves
and fans were
on display.
There was a
live demon-
stration of the
App that
brings together
the systems of ―smart air‖, ―smart water‖, and ―smart nutri-
tion‖.
The Canton Fair was the perfect place to bring together
both the style and substance of Midea. The first half of this
year saw Midea Group enter the Forbes 500, be placed as the
highest appliances manufacturer in China’s Fortune 500 and
revenue reach US$13 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7 per-
cent, which puts Midea on course for its most lucrative year
yet.
―Eco‖ was written in large letters above the area contain-
ing both fridges and small appliances. This was to fit with the
theme of energy-saving technology which Midea is emphasiz-
ing this year.
Another head-turner was the Mibot floor-cleaning robot.
The word ―cute‖ was even heard to describe it. It is indicative
of Midea’s part in the automation revolution. Other product
categories into which Midea is delving such as coffee dispens-
ers were also on display.
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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At The Forefront of the Beauty Business
By Kevin McGeary
T he beauty business can be an ugly thing,
competitive to the point of being cruel. On October 6
in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, The New
Silk Road – Chi-
na’s oldest and
most prestigious
beauty competi-
tion - saw 100
competitors
whittled down to
40 ahead of the
final in Decem-
ber.
Midea was the official
sponsor of the whole
thing. As a result, the
most beautiful people
in the world’s most
populous country were
seen talking
about and
posing with
Midea’s
appliances.
Wu Yingna,
who came
fifth in the
2002 edition
of Miss
World and
is a former
Miss Asia-
Pacific, was
among the
judges. She
told report-
ers that it
was fitting
for the
young, dy-
namic competitors to be
associated with a brand
that was at the forefront
of home appliances tech-
nology.
As well as posing
for photographs, self-
introductions and a tal-
ent show, contestants
were required to answer
questions about the
smart home, and how it
would revolutionize the
way people live.
NEWSLINE
Wu Yingna (right)
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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Major Brazil Design Award
By Nadia Mathias
T he Midea Sensia water purifier was among
the winners at the 29th edition of the Brazilian House
Museum Design Awards in São Paulo. The awards
recognise the design of items related to Brazilian
homes.
The announcement was made on October 15 by
São Paolo’s secretary of culture. On November 26, a
ceremony will be held to honor the winners and ex-
hibit their products.
The Midea Sensia water purifier will be exhibit-
ed, along with the other products, up to January 31,
2016, at the Museum, which is dedicated to traditional
culture. The Sensia is signed by designers Daniel
Kroker and Valkiria Pedri Fialkowski. The engineers
responsible for it are Luciano Moraes and Felipe
Vogt.
The water purifier will come to market in 2016.
Its main features include a sleek design, compact size,
low power consumption, programmable amount of water,
three temperature options and an efficient treatment system
consisting of three stages of water filtration.
It is one of the smaller purifiers on the market, being 38
cm wide by 37.2 cm high. Its installation is
simple and can be done by any lay person.
Maintenance is also easy and it is not neces-
sary to check the filter all the time. It also has
a unique warning system that tells users when
to change the filters - usually every 6 months
but sometimes upto 12 months. Perhaps most
impressively of all, it has no-touch usability.
Regarding energy consumption, the purifier is
also different because it consumes only 80
watts and has an insulated tank that helps
keeping the water temperature stable, as it
does not need to cool the water all the time,
reducing the power consumption. Another
detail is its non-use of refrigerant gas, which
helps cool your water without heating the
planet.
NEWSLINE
House Museum
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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First Attendance at Belarus Sports
Competition By Advances
B elarus joint venture Midea-Gorizont took part in
the Horizont Holding Company’s annual sports competition
for the first time on September 18-20. In the name of health
and teambuilding, the competition contained both sport and
creative sessions.
The main motto of the competition is ―You are never
too old or too young for sport‖. Eight teams, each represent-
ing a separate affiliate of Horizont, took part.
Midea-Gorizont was represented by 17 people both Bela-
rusian and Chinese and the teams name translated as
―friendship among nations‖. Ice was broken on the first day
with staged performances. Midea-Gorizont did a folk song and
dance routine involving both Belarusian and Chinese elements.
Midea-Gorizont won third place. Later on, team members
got together to cook dinner and strategize for the upcoming
events.
NEWSLINE
Dormitory design
Cooking as a form of teambuilding
Flying its flag over the dormitory building
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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First Attendance at Belarus Sports
Competition (Cont.) By Advances
On the morning of September 19, teams were treated to
a traditional Belarusian breakfast. Shortly afterwards, the main
competition began. Activities included draughts, billiards,
table tennis, darts, volleyball, etc. Midea-Gorizont’s best result
was achieved by General Manager You Baofeng who took
second place in a darts competition.
The last day turned out to be the most physically de-
manding as teams competed in a relay-race which included a
number of contests that required cooperation.
The highlight of the three-day competition was the closing
ceremony during which Midea-Horizont won first prize for the
decoration of its accommodation. The team missed out on the
podium by one place but the important thing is that for three
whole days they were a team.
NEWSLINE
You Baofeng finished second in darts
Long distance running
Volleyball
Togetherness and team spirit captured in one photo
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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Midea in China's Top 10 Privately Held
Brands
M idea has been named in China's 10 most valuable
privately held brands by the Hurun Research Institute. The re-
port by the institute, founded in 1999 by chartered accountant
Rupert Hoogewerf, placed Midea as the nation's most valuable
privately held appliances brand.
No 10 Midea
Brand value: $4.68 billion
Increase: 81 percent
Industry: Home appliances
Headquarters: Guangdong Province
No 9 Alipay
Brand value: $5.32 billion
Increase: 27 percent
Industry: E-commerce
Headquarters: Zhejiang province
No 8 Xiaomi
Brand value: $7.26 billion
Increase: 525 percent
Industry: Mobile phones
Headquarters: Beijing
No 7 Wanda Group
Brand value: $8.87 billion
Increase: 67 percent
Industry: Real estate
Headquarters: Beijing
NEWSLINE
Via China Daily
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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Midea in China's Top 10 Privately Held
Brands (Cont.)
No 6 JD.com
Brand value: $12.1 billion
Increase: 266 percent
Industry: E-commerce
Headquarters: Beijing
No 5 Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of Chi-
na
Brand value: $15.16 billion
Increase: 36 percent
Industry: Insurance
Headquarters: Guangdong province
No 4 Tmall.com
Brand value: $15.32 billion
Increase: 98 percent
Industry: E-commerce
Headquarters: Zhejiang province
No 3 Baidu
Brand value: $40.3 billion
Increase: 32 percent
Industry: Internet search engine
Headquarters: Beijing
No 2 Taobao.com
Brand value: $42.9 billion
Increase: 44 percent
Industry: E-commerce
Headquarters: Zhejiang province
No 1 Tencent
Brand value: $44.7 billion
Increase: 33 percent
Industry: IT
Headquarters: Guangdong province
NEWSLINE
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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Nature Paintings Come to Factory Canteen
By Advances
N owadays most of us work hard and save up to
travel when we get time off. On our travels we may go to a
museum or a scenic spot where we can forget about our mun-
dane concerns.
Midea's Residential Air Conditioning (RAC) factory in
Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, has
brought mother nature into the canteen, with paintings that
would normally belong in a museum portraying images that
normally only exist far from any office or factory.
NEWSLINE
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
13
Southeast Vietnam Dealer Meeting
By Advances
M idea Group’s Vietnam branch worked through
the second most important traditional festival on the calendar
to hold a dealer meeting for the southeast of the country on
September 28. Staff and dealers sacrificed their Mid-Autumn
holiday to hold the activity dedicated to the all-important re-
gion.
With its prodigiously curvaceous coastline and munici-
pality of Ho Chi Minh City, the southeast boasts a robust
economy and a sophisticated consumer. This activity was an
excellent opportunity to boost new products and connect
with local dealers.
Prizes for outstanding partners included a four-day holi-
day in Thailand. One-hundred and forty-eight dealers were
invited to the conference, which staff at the Vietnam office
showed the utmost dedication to organize the event through
heavy rain and the temptations of a national holiday.
NEWSLINE
Products on display
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
14
On a Spin through Vietnam
By Victor Hang
L ocal mascot ―Little Blue Bear‖ was hard at work in
Vietnam throughout September, holding promotional activities
in supermarkets, a roadshow and a Facebook campaign to pro-
mote the new front-loading washing machine. This campaign
marks an increase in the brand’s product range in a country
where it has mostly specialized in air conditioning and small
appliances.
NEWSLINE
By Chen Minshan
LittleSwan’s 3rd Quarter Profit up 26%
M idea-owned washing machine brand LittleSwan saw
profit reach US$1.5 billion in the third quarter of 2015, this
marks a year-on-
year growth of
23.57 percent. The
gross profit margin
was 26.75 percent, a
year-on-year in-
crease of 0.63 per-
centage points. Net
profit margin was 8.31 percent, a year-on-year increase of 0.82
percentage points.
Earnings per share were at US$0.17. Operating income
was US$552 million, a year-on-year increase of 25.17 percent.
The company’s burgeoning E-commerce business also saw a
promising return, with US$225 million worth of sales in the first
three quarters, a
year-on-year
increase of 130
percent.
Recent months
have seen the
launch of the i-
Intelligent drum
water cube se-
ries; the fast net series; the i-bigger washing machine; and the
children’s washing machine, all of which have been successful in
the domestic market.
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
15
Equipment Installed at West Africa
International Airport By Liang Zhaolun
M idea Commercial Air Conditioning (CAC) has
begun installing its equipment in the international airport of
Cotonou, the largest city and economic centre of the west
African state of Benin. This follows airport projects in Mauri-
tius, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand which CAC has land-
ed.
Cotonou is Benin’s largest port and is located just 35
kilometres away from the national capital of Porto-Novo. For
this reason, 60-65 percent of Benin’s international trade goes
through the airport as does 35-40 percent of that of neighbor-
ing, landlocked countries such as Burkina-Faso and Niger to
the north.
Over the course of a year, the temperature in Cotonou
typically varies from 75°F to 90°F and the airport operates for
24 hours, so the large refrigeration units and dozens of other
products installed by CAC are certain to come in useful. After
the All-Africa Games in Brazzaville and the launch of Midea’s
entire product range in Tunisia, 2015 has been an exciting year
in the Dark Continent for Midea.
NEWSLINE
Cotonou
Locals at the airport ahead of the pope’s visit in 2011
Cotonou International Airport
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
16
CAC Sends Team to Fun Run
By Liang Zhaolun
A team of representatives from Midea Commercial
Air Conditioning (CAC) took part in the Foshan City Fun
Run, close to the group’s global headquarters on October 30.
The 5-kilometre run involved 160 local companies and 4000
competitors.
The purpose of the fun run is to promote health and
fitness in a city where a competitive job market means many
residents spend excessively long hours at the office. The slo-
gan of the fun run is: "Run for happiness, run for health, run
for friendship."
NEWSLINE
Flying the flag for a fit and healthy company
Ready for the starting gun
“And we’re off!”
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
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Midea Movember
By Advances
M ovember is an annual event involving the grow-
ing of moustaches during the month of November to raise
awareness of men's health issues, such as depression in men,
prostate cancer and other male cancers. Founded in Australia
in 1999, Movember also attempts to raise money for associat-
ed charities.
The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity
event, housed at www.movember.com. Participants can go to
the website to register and donate.
In the name of men's health, and fun, Midea will hold an
internal competition to see who among us can grow some-
thing to rival the below masterpieces:
Criteria
To be eligible to win, participants must submit the follow-
ing things at the end of the month:
- A photograph of you clean shaven in early November,
one photograph of your progress and a photograph of your
final moustache.
- Evidence that you have contributed via the Movember
website or to another men's health charity of your choice.
Prizes
1. The M2 Water
Purifier.
The M2, Midea’s
noiseless water dispenser,
has proved a sensation in
China, smashing records
with its sales volume on online platform T-Mall.
On the water dispenser is a QR code which can provide
users with an instruction manual, after-sales service, pointers as
to when the filter needs changing and other functions.
2. Xiaomi Action Camera.
The Xiaomi Action Camera
records video at upto 60 fps
and captures photos upto
16MP. It's built in WIFI can
connect to your Android
phone from up to 100m away
which will allow you to easily
and conveniently transfer photos and videos to your phone.
3. A deluxe set of XO
brandy.
For more info, contact
May the best mo win!
NEWSLINE
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
18
CAC’s Compressor Consultant
By Patrick Luo
T o stay at the forefront of the global industry, Midea
Commercial Air Conditioning (CAC) often hires consultants
from overseas. At 72 years old, Byron Hamm, who is as pas-
sionate about compressor design as when he started, brings an
infectious enthusiasm to his work at CAC’s Chongqing pro-
duction base.
Byron studied Tur-
bine Engineering at Iowa
State University and has
over forty years of experi-
ence in cooling technology.
As a graduate student in
the 1960s, Byron was in-
volved in rocket fuel pump
design for NASA’s early
Apollo missions.
Subsequently, he
worked in the aerodynamic
design of centrifugal com-
pressors. According to
colleagues, Byron is a walk-
ing encyclopedia on the sub-
ject of centrifugal machines.
From 1972’s R12 compressor to 2015’s VFD direct drive
compressor, he has been at the forefront of the profession for
decades. This month Byron gave an interview to Patrick Luo
of CAC, here is our translation:
Advances: In your time at Midea, what changes
have you noticed?
Byron: In my four years here, the biggest change I have
noticed is the increased product quality. The compressor pro-
duction facility we have right now is as good as I have seen
anywhere in the world. Due to the modernization of our de-
sign, the performance of our chillers has improved immeasur-
ably.
Advances: In what areas do you think there is still
room for improvement?
Byron: There are still places in which we use manned ma-
chines when automated technology could do the job just as well.
We also need to test our products more thoroughly and are thus
adding more extensive testing equipment.
Before products enter the market, we need to spend more time
developing them, identi-
fying and solving prob-
lems. This is essential to
boosting our reputation
for quality and reliabil-
ity. Comprehensive test-
ing of our heat exchang-
ers and compressors is
essential to continuing
the improvement of our
product range.
Advances: In terms of
the work you put in,
which product do you
feel proudest of?
Byron: I suppose I am
proudest of the VFD
direct drive compressor, which we have been working on this
year. It puts us at the forefront of our industry, and our whole
research and development team can be very proud.
Advances: In all your years in the cooling business, is
this your proudest achievement?
Byron: I don’t derive satisfaction form prizes or other
material stuff. I am quite indifferent to those things. I like to see
a project go from conception to completion. I like seeing the
part that my own hard work played in a project’s success.
Advances: What advantages does the VFD direct
drive compressor have over some previous models?
B: It beats previous models in both efficiency and simplic-
PEOPLE
Byron Hamm
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
19
CAC’s Compressor Consultant (Cont.)
By Patrick Luo
ity. It only has one moving part. The rear end has a superior
power rotor to previous models. I think this model represents
the future of small and medium-sized compressors. However,
it does still require a variable frequency drive.
Advances: What do you think of the team we have
here in Chongqing?
Byron: In my experience, they are as good as their coun-
terparts at Trane, York and Carrier. The one thing holding
them back is a lack of international experience. Given more
time to provide for overseas markets, I think we will attain
our rightful share.
Advances: Are you satisfied with the production
process or do you see much room for improvement?
Byron: I think the current process is satisfactory consid-
ering our output. When we become more successful and de-
mand increases, I think both the design and manufacturing
processes will be due an upgrade. As our yield increases, we
will also be able to choose a higher class of supplier for our
components, which will ultimately improve our products.
Advances: What are some of your predictions for
the future of the cooling, centrifugal machinery and
screw compressor industries?
Byron: The internet has leveled the playing field in terms
of design concept. Increases in performance will probably slow
down and prices will probably go up as the industry is under
pressure to use more energy efficient technology such as varia-
ble frequency technology, falling film evaporator, electronic
control systems, magnetic levitation systems, or other non-oil
bearing system.
However, performance will be stabilized due to a world-
class database. Aside from that, only with radical new ideas will
big changes be made in the industry.
Advances: We have entered the age of Industry 4.0.
Both manual operation and automated operation have
their advantages. Which do you prefer at this point?
Byron: This is a question of production capacity. Most
domestic manufacturers currently use manual production. This
can satisfy their current demand. However, a company like
Midea really needs to invest in automated manufacturing if it is
to fulfill its ambitions.
A good example of this is in heat exchanger plates. Cur-
rently, manufacturing depends on a manned drill press. If this
could be done by a machine, output would increase exponen-
tially. Our current production facilities are good enough, but we
also need to move with the times.
PEOPLE
Iowa State University
Midea CAC’s Chongqing base
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
20
CHINA: Single’s Day
By Kevin McGeary
FUSION
kind of anti-
Valentine’s
Day that is
celebrated in
China and
throughout
the Chinese
diaspora.
Activities
For breakfast on this day, singles often eat four Youtiao
(deep-fried dough sticks) representing the four "ones" in
"11.11" and one Baozi (steamed stuffed bun) representing the
middle dot. The day is popularly used for boys-only or girls-
only leisure activities but is sometimes set aside as a date for
matchmaking events such as ―blind date parties‖ on university
campuses.
In 2011, the Single’s Day of the century (because it had
six ones) an above-average number of wedding celebrations
were held in Beijing and Hong Kong. Reasons cited included
that the ―one‖ could also mean ―the only one for me‖.
In 2009 the online retail firm Alibaba adopted the day to
promote a massive online shopping sale. It said the date was
easy to remember, and conveniently placed in a consumer
spending lull between National Day and Chinese New Year
holiday.
Singles' Day rapidly became a hit. Other online retailers
began cashing in, and in 2012 Alibaba copyrighted the term
"Double 11" so that competitors could not use it in advertis-
ing. In
2014,
Alibaba
reported
record
sales of
US $9.3
million in
that one
day.
S ingle’s Day (光棍节)falls on November 11 on
the Roman calendar, this day was chosen because it contains
more uses of the digit ―1‖ than any other date. The Chinese
name of this festival translates as ―Bachelor’s Day‖, but in re-
cent years it has come to be popular with both single men and
single women.
Origins
China is a tough place in which to be single. In recent
years, words have entered the language such as shengnv 剩女
(“leftover women‖) which is used to describe women who let
their twenty-seventh birthday come and go without the sound
of their own wedding bells. Older expressions such as 读得好
不如嫁得好 (“studying well can never beat marrying well)
illustrate the extent to which being single is seen as a failure.
Single men do not have it much better. Gender imbalance
among the generation born since 1980 means that it will be
impossible for millions of men to fulfill their traditional obliga-
tion of providing grandchildren for their parents.
Whether out of pity or defiance, some university students
in the southern former capital of Nanjing established ―Single’s
Day‖ on November 11, 1993. Since then it has grown into a
A day on which to lose one’s single status
A Single’s Day matchmaking competition
A warehouse dealing with Single’s Day orders.
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
21
BRITAIN: Guy Fawkes Night
By Kevin McGeary
FUSION
the four corners of the kingdom‖ to be displayed as a warning
against treason.
Activities
For centuries, November 5 was a festival throughout
Britain and in overseas colonies to celebrate the defeat of
treachery. It was also seen as anti-Catholic and in America’s
colonial era it was even nicknamed Anti-Pope Day.
Since the mid-twentieth century, Guy Fawkes Night has
been preceded by local children making an effigy of flammable
materials and preparing wood for a bonfire weeks in advance.
A fireworks display organized by the community has come to
be about as important to Guy Fawkes Night as the fire itself.
In 1998 an editorial in The Catholic Herald called for an
end to Guy Fawkes Night, but the fireworks may be too popu-
lar. According to David Cressy, author of the 1992 book "The
Fifth of November Remembered": "The rockets go higher and burn
with more colour, but they have less and less to do with mem-
ories of the Fifth of November ... it might be observed that
Guy Fawkes' Night is finally declining, having lost its connec-
tion with politics and religion. But we have heard that many
times before. ―
As for Guy Fawkes himself, according to JA Sharpe,
author of Remember, Remember: A Cultural History of Guy Fawkes
Day, he is now seen as something of an anti-hero. Some have
even called him ―the last man to enter parliament with honest
intentions‖.
G uy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night,
falls on November 5 and involves the burning of an effigy of
Guy Fawkes, who attempted to assassinate King James I of
Britain in 1605.
In 1606 the Parliament of England passed the
―Thanksgiving Act‖ ordering that November 5 be a day of
celebration of the plot’s failure.
Origins
Guy Fawkes (1570-1606) was a member of a group of
English Catholics which planned the Gunpowder Plot, an at-
tempt to kill England’s Protestant king and restore Catholic
rule. Fawkes’ role was to guard the gunpowder and after an
anonymous letter enabled the king’s soldiers to capture him, he
was arrested and tortured.
Under torture, he revealed the names of his co-
conspirators on November 8, and the eight plotters were put
on trial on January 27, 1606. The jury found all of the defend-
ants guilty of high treason.
Attorney General Sir Edward Coke told the court that
each of the condemned would—if you are eating you should
probably stop reading here—have their genitals cut off and
burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed.
They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of
their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the
fowls of the air".
Fawkes was the last to climb the scaffold ahead of being
hung, and after either jumping or falling, he broke his neck
which meant he escaped the agony of being drawn and quar-
tered. All of the conspirators had their body parts ―spread to
An effigy being carried to its fate
The last man to enter parliament with honest intentions?
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
22
THAILAND: Surin Elephant Round-up
By Kevin McGeary
FUSION
Nowadays, elephants and their trainers travel 100 km to
Surin to participate in the festival. The ritualistic elements and
traits of the festival have all but disappeared.
Activities
The modern two-day event includes a variety of shows
displaying the physical prowess and skill of the animals, such
as soccer games and tugs-of-war with the Royal Thai Army.
Elephants painting pictures, playing polo, and whirling hula
hoops on their trunks are also incorporated into the show.
The Kuy hunters who are singled out to perform in the
round-up
follow a
morning
ritual
called the
"Pak Kum
Luang" in
the days
before the
festival.
This ritual
includes
praying at the ancient Pakam Shrine and then offering pigs
heads, chickens, wine, and herbs as well as burning incense.
When the required sign is obtained, the elders blow the
hunters horn which signals that the 60 km long trek to the
festival can commence. The elephants and their mahouts ar-
rive with at least five days to spare and spend this time roam-
ing the streets while offering rides and practicing for the show.
On Friday morning, a marching procession of approxi-
mately 300 elephants starts moving through Surin. The ele-
phants carry dignitaries who dismount their steeds on arrival.
Once all the elephants have arrived, the banquet begins.
On the Saturday activities include an address by the cere-
mony’s chairperson at The Elephant Stadium, the corralling of
wild elephants by tame ones, acrobatics, and a re-enactment of
a historical battle between Siamese (Thai) and Burmese forces,
ending with a Siamese victory.
T he Surin Elephant Round-up is traditionally held at
the end of the third week of November in Isan, Thailand. The
festival has its origins in the royal hunts which were conducted
in Surin Province during medieval times.
The indigenous residents of Surin, the Kuy, have been
traditional practitioners of corralling elephants and training
them as working animals. When the Ayutthaya Kingdom (1351-
1767) came into power these hunts were converted into a pub-
lic extravaganza and wild elephants were replaced with tame
ones.
Origins
Historians as far back as pre-Christian Greeks observed
that thousands of wild elephants roamed freely in the forests
around Thailand. In Surin Province these elephants were
rounded up, corralled and captured in hunts which were highly
ritualistic and involved many mythological aspects. The hunts
also had an economic purpose, as the captured elephants were
domesticated and used for haulage or even sometimes war.
The Ayutthaya Kings turned the hunts into a royally
sponsored event where local dignitaries and overseas guests
were invited to savour the spectacle. By the mid-twentieth cen-
tury, the spectacle aspect overtook the hunt aspect.
The festival, in its contemporary form, was first organized
in the 1960s. Due to civil war in Cambodia and technology that
caused the economic value of elephants to decline, the elephant
handlers began to seek opportunities in the entertainment and
tourism industries.
Advances Fusion, October, 2015
23
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